Lock-joint for railroad-bars



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If s S TNT @FIC LOCK-JOINT FOR RAILROAD-BARS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 14,868, dated May 13, 1856,

To all 'who/m, t may concern Be it known that I, JAMES R. HILLIARD, of Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented a new Lock-Joint for Railroad-Tracks; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l, is a perspective view of the ends of two lengths of rail fitted together with my lock joint, one of the rails being shown in black and the other in red color to show the interior of the joint. Fig. 2, is an end view of one length of rail. Fig. 3, is a transverse section of the joint in a plane dividing the bases of the two lengths of rail. Fig. 4, is a side view showing the manner of disconnecting the joint.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

The object of my invention is to unite the sections of rails in the construction of railroads by a compound lap joint so disposed that while the joints'give perfect freedom of end play for the construction and expansion due to the changes of temperature, and admit of separation for the purpose of repair without the use of screw bolts, rivets, wedges or other equivalent devices and with no other fastening than by spikes to the cross ties or other bed, the sections shall be as effectually kept in line as if each rail was one continuous bar from end to end. And with the view to the accomplishment of this important and long desired result my invention consists in forming the joint of one section with another by lapping the one against the other in a central longitudinal vertical plane of any desired length and extending only a portion of the height of the rail from the top to within one third of the base more or less, when this is combined with the lapping of each section onto and under the other in planes longitudinally parallel with the axis of the rail, and transversely inclined in opposite directions from the outside toward the central vertical plane of division of the first named lap. I form one end of al section A of a T rail by cutting out one half its thickness for about a distance of six inches from the end and about two thirds the depth from the tread or upper surface to the bottom or under face of the web, so that the recess formed will present a longitudinal vertical plane a in the line of the middle of the thickness of the rail. The extreme end of the rail will present a plane at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the rails, and the inner end of the recess a vertical plane el parallel with the end of the rail. And the bottom of the recess will present a plane b which longitudinally is parallel with the tread or upper surface of the rail, and transversely at an inclination to the base so as to be lowest at its junction with the central vertical plane a and incliningupward to the outer surface of the rail, so that at the cross section of this recess it will present one half of what is known as a dove tail rabbet. At a distance of one half the length of this recess from the end I cut away the lower part or web of the rail from the plane b in a vertical plane c at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the rail, and the under face of the part which projects beyond the cross vertical plane c I cut to a plane b the exact reverse of the before described plane b, so that the cross section of this projecting part will present one half of what. is termed a dove tail tenon.

I-Iaving thus cut or otherwise formed one end of a section of rail I cut or form the adjacent end of the next section the exact reverse thereof, so that the central longi tudinal vertical plane a of the one will come in Contact with the corresponding plane of the other, the end of the projecting part of the one against the cross vertical plane (Z at the end of the recess of the other, the transverse inclined under face or plane I) of the one onto the inclined bottom ZJ of the recess of the other, andthe cross vertical plane c of the web of one against the corresponding plane of the other, thus completely locking the two sections the one to the other without the necessity of using chairs or clamps of any kind, but simply spikes to secure them to the cross ties sleepers or other bed.

Vhen thus locked it will be seen that one section cannot be moved out of line in any direction without the other. One section cannot rise without the other because it extends both over and under the other section. They are prevented from moving laterally independently of each other in one direction by reason of the contact of the faces of the vertical planes a, a, and in the opposite direction by reason of the lap of the lateral inclined planes b, b which act as a dovetail to resist such lateral play. And the one cannot be depressed vwithout the other because each laps over and under the other by laps which are parallel with their longitudinal aXis ofthe rail so that if all support were removed fro-m under the joint,rneither section could sink without breaking or bending the metal of both sections constituting the laps. And. as each rests on a surface of the other which inclines downward from the outside toward the central plane of division it follows that the passage of a weight on either of the sect-ions will tend to close the joint of the central division. constituting the joint are all in a longitudinal direction parallely with the longitudinal axis of the rail, and no bolts, rivets, keys or equivalent devices are used to bind together the sections, it follows that perfect freedom is left for expansion and contraction, a result never before attained in connecting the sections of railroad bars. Although a joint constructed on this plan will effectually resist all tendencies to carry either section out of line independently of the adjacent sect-ion, nevertheless it -will admit of separation for the purposes of repairs without the necessity of cutting or breaking either section. By drawing out a suiiicient number of spikes on either side of the joint to be disconnected, to admit of bending the rail, the joint can be lifted up as represented in Fig. 4L of the ac* companying drawings, and lthen Vdisconnected and replaced at pleasure. This is to be effected entirely by the flexure ofthe.

As the laps t rails and not by a correspondingl depression of the opposite ends of the sections, It must be observed that although the oint will not yield downward to a force applied on top, even withoutany under support, and one section cannot be lifted without the other, still both can be lifted together and the joint gradually opened and separated, because when lifted the extreme over lap of each on the other is raised from the surface on which it rests, as b from b. But the separation cannot be effected in the opposite direction becausevmotion in thatV direction is firstl resislted'by the extreme over lap of each on the ot er.

lVhat l claiinas my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent in joining the sections of rails for railroads is-w 1 VThe co-mbination of the several laps substantially such as herein described, and consisting of first the lapping each against the other along a central longitudinal vertical plane or nearly so, second, lapping each onto and under the other on planes parallel or nearly so with the longitudinal axis of the rail, and third making the surfaces where each laps on and under the other, inclining downward from each side of the rail toward the central longitudinal vertical plane of division of the joints, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

JAMES n. HILLIARD.

Witnesses PREIGIME SANDroRD, VOLNEY ALDRIDGE. 

